Jennie A. Chinn

Executive Director
Kansas Historical Society

Jennie Chinn has been executive director of the Kansas Historical Society, the state agency, since 2005. She previously served as Education Division Director, from 1991 to 2004, and served as interim executive director of the Historical Society in 2002.

In her position as education director, Chinn authored The Kansas Journey, the seventh grade textbook for Kansas history. More than 28,000 students across the state use this text for their studies of the state's history. She served as co-chair of the Kansas history curriculum standards in both 1999 and 2004. She also taught folklore classes at Washburn University from 1986 to 2004. She joined the Historical Society in 1982 as the Kansas State Folklorist.

Chinn is a Kansan by choice, living in the state since 1980. "I am passionate about Kansas history," she said. "The state has been at the forefront of many issues important to the development of this nation."

Earlier in her career Chinn served as a librarian at the Folklore Center at the University of California, Los Angeles; and she taught history, language arts, and speech at the middle school level. She holds a bachelor's degree in humanities and a master's degree in folklore and mythology from the University of California. Chinn lives with her family in Topeka.